Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

From Booklist: It takes a certain amount of guts to start a novel by killing off a popular recurring character, but no one has ever accused this writing team of lacking guts. The latest Pendergast thriller begins with a murder that is apparently committed by a man who, 10 days earlier, was pronounced dead and then buried. But the eyewitness is sure it’s the same man, and footage from a security camera appears to confirm it. How does a dead man commit murder? And why this particular victim? Pendergast, the FBI special agent who frequently takes on personal assignments on a freelance basis, teams up once again with New York police lieutenant Vincent D’Agosta to solve a crime that has ties to the supernatural. Individually, these two writers turn out books that are solid, competent, workmanlike. Together, they manage to kick it up several notches, producing novels that are elegantly written and feature unique characters and eerie, compelling stories. For fans of the Pendergast series, this is a must-read.

My Thoughts: I have read all of the Pendergast novels (in order) as well as others Preston & Child have penned together and have enjoyed them all. Pendergast is still somewhat of a mystery as is his family and background. A little something is pulled out in every novel. I usually buy any new Preston-Child book as soon as it comes out. I was SHOCKED to find that one of my favorite recurring characters, Bill Smithback, was killed off. What of Nora? Will she be back?

Anyway, back to the book- it all...the supernatural, mystery, suspense...all the things I have come to expect in the writing of Preston and Child. There are surprising plot twists , and it's generally a very fun read with quite a bit of action. After Smithback is killed by someone who is deemed to be a zombii, Pendergast and D'Agosta begin their investigation into black magic, vodou and zombii's. It leads them to the upper-most northern part of Manhattan where a strange settlement known as the Ville has existed since before the Civil War. There have been complaints that everything from animal sacrifice to the creation of zombiis takes place up there. But, as usual everything is not as it seems. At the end there was a quick little tease for the next book. A strange little man calaiming to be the lawyer for the Pendergast family visits Pendergast in the hospital. Can't wait to see what's next!

thriller, murder mystery, paranormal, zombiis, suspense

The Camel Club by David Baldacci

About the book: After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It’s an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse is five unexpected heroes.

The Camel Club consists of four unlikely partners: The leader, man without a past currently called "Oliver Stone"; obsessive computer genius Milton Farb; blue-collar laborer Reuben Rhodes; and Library of Congress reference specialist Caleb Shaw. Their goal: to seek the truth, an often elusive goal in their hometown, Washington, D.C. In their quest for truth, they collect an unusual array of friends who assist them -- Secret Service agent Alex Ford, homeless activist Adelphia, and con-artist extraordinaire Annabelle Conroy.

My Thoughts: This is a great set of CDs I won from J. Kaye. I of course enjoyed these out of order, listening to Divine Justice first, which was VERY good. The Camel Club is the actual first book in the series. What a page turner this would have been had I been reading it instead of listening to it. As it was I made a couple of extra trips to town and sat in the driveway a few extra minutes listening to it. This was much more of a political thriller than Divine Justice was. There are Arab terrorists, the President is kidnapped and we are on the verge of using nuclear weapons. This is averted at the last minute by ...... the Camel Club. In this book we meet Carter Gray, Oliver's nemesis, and he is as loathsome here as he was in Divine Justice.

As much as I liked it I found it a little confusing as there were so many groups involved. Some of it was unbelievable such as where the terrorists plan a major assault, but use tranquilizer darts so as not to kill anyone. ???? Even so was a good read. I've already started the next one, The Collectors.

thriller, political thriller, Oliver Stone, mystery, conspiracy

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

About the book: It is 2058. New York cop Eve Dallas doesn't have to confront gun crime anymore, no one does. Guns are simply relics. But this latest homicide is an old-fashioned crime in many ways. Sharon DeBlass is a high-class hooker from a wealthy, powerful family. Her brutal shooting sends shockwaves through her family, political society and police headquarters. From the note under her body, it seems that a serial killer is on the loose. The killer gets uncomfortably close to Eve Dallas as she pieces together his identity. In the course of this murder investigation Eve Dallas meets Roarke, a charming self-made billionaire, and passions are stirred. This is the first in the incredibly successful suspense series featuring Dallas and Roarke. Those expecting a gentle read should put this book back on the shelf immediately. This tale has street language, sex and violence. And it is highly addictive stuff which will have you turning the pages far too fast. (Kirkus UK

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley (October 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425155188

My Thoughts:The review above about covers it. There is murder, romance, and suspense in this futuristic page turner. It was right about the page turning. I was burning up the page turn key on my Kindle. After three books I'm getting invested in these characters. What more could you want? Now that I've read the first one I can get on with the third one.

murder mystery, Kindle, in death series, romantic suspense, police

The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen

From the jacket: Peccavi.....The Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman’s brutal murder: “I HAVE SINNED”. It’s a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O’Donnell – Maura’s professional nemesis and member of a secret society called “The Mephisto Club

On tony Beacon Hill, the club’s acolytes devote themselves to the analysis of evil: Can it be explained by science? Does it have a physical presence? Do demons walk the earth? Drawing on a wealth of dark historical data and mysterious religious symbology, the Mephisto scholars aim to prove a startling theory: that Satan and his demons actually exist among us.

With the grisly appearance of a corpse on the Mephisto Club’s doorstep, it’s clear that someone – or something – is indeed prowling the city. The members begin to fear the very subject of their study. Have they inadvertently summoned an evil entity from the darkness?
Deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of evil – where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have ever faced… one whose work is only just beginning. Hardcover: 368 pages

Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 12, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345476999
ISBN-13: 978-0345476999

My thoughts: Thanks Bookfriends! Tess Gerritsen did indeed provide a great read. I chose this book randomly after a couple of Bookfriends told me they liked this author. I didn't know that this was part of a series, the Isles/Rizzoli series, I just thought the blurb sounded good and checked it out of the library. This was a real page turner. It was dark and a little disturbing. I'm sure the author spent many hours researching devil worship, Satan, and other kinds of evil written about in ancient texts. The demonic/paranormal slant sort of surprised me as I thought these were strictly medical/police thrillers. Isles seems to be going in a different direction than Rizzoli now. The end of the book left it wide open for a new series. Going to go to Amazon and check on it now.

mystery, murder,

Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker

From the book: "When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary - one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (June 7, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399152776
ISBN-13: 978-0399152771

My thoughts: I haven't read a western in YEARS. This was quite a re-introduction to the genre.The story line was familiar: a bad rancher and his hired help terrorizes the helpless town folk who then hire outside help to clean up the town. In this case they hire Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. I liked these two characters, they were unique. They were hired as lawmen, but Cole made the laws and they walked a line between the law and simply being hired guns. Everett was a kind of mystery to me. He was an educated man and a West Point man as was his father but how he ended up leading this kind of life . It tells at the beginning how he gets hooked up with Cole, but why stay on? I didn't like the character of Allie, Cole's girlfriend, but I don't think Parker meant for anyone to like her. She is what she is and everyone knows it. This was a quick, easy read that kept me interested through out. The ending was a surprise, which I liked. I'm off to the library today to get the sequel, Resolution.

Challenges:
100+Reading Challenge
Support Your Library Challenge

western, Colorado

Divine Justice by David Baldacci

From the CD box: Known by his alias, "Oliver Stone," John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone's life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced. But his freedom comes at a steep price: The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U.S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. He, more than anyone, wants Stone dead. With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now, as the hunters close in, Stone's flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D.C., to the small, isolated coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia-and into a world every bit as lethal as the one he left behind.

My Thoughts: This was a CD set that I won from J Kaye and I sure did enjoy it. This is the first one of Baldacci's books I've "read" and will be sure to listen to or read more. I feel like I should have saved this one and read the earlier ones, but that's the way it goes. This stood by itself nicely enough. This was an edge of your seat thriller with likable characters (and hate-able ones as well.) There were a couple of very sad parts that hurt my heart. My favorite part was that it had a VERY satisfactory ending!


Visit the author's site here.

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
Audiobok Challenge
RYOB Challenge

thriller, political thriller suspense, mystery, assassin

Challenges Finished So Far This Year

I've had a good reading year so far. With less than half the year gone I've read 56 books and finished these challenges:

The Audiobook Challenge (view list) Finished! :)

Suspense & Thriller 2009 Challenge (view list) Finished! :)

Support Your Local Library Challenge 2009 (view list) Finished :)

Chunkster Challenge (view list) Finished! :)

What's In a name Challenge (view list) Finished :)


The Daniel DeFoe Mini-Challenge (view list) Finished :)

The Christmas Day Murders by Sheriff J. B. Smith and D. W. Adams

Synopsis: When the bodies of Carla and Stephen Barron were discovered early one Christmas morning, the search for the killer began. The murder investigation that ensued is full of shocking discoveries and provides keen insight into the world of the Texas sheriff who directed the investigation. Critical evidence led Sheriff J.B. Smith’s team to solve one of the most compelling cases ever seen.

My Thoughts: This is my first foray into this kind of true crime. I've read "The Monster of Florence" by Douglas Preston, "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson and listened to "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, and "Jack the Ripper" by Patricia Cornwell and it did not compare well to any of these. But to be fair it wasn't presented as a work of literature but as a chronicle.

I think this book would appeal mostly to a local audience. That's why I chose it. The case was covered with lots of details but there were included a lot of rabbit trails mostly about the sheriff and his friends. I did not think it was appropriate to include the story of his friend who flew in prostitutes in from New York City. It had nothing to do with the story and was kind of just thrown in.

This was a quick read at 219 pages. The local references brought the story close to my heart. I felt grief for this apparently decent couple.

The fact that pictures of the murdered couple, taken at the scene of the murder, were included was beyond bad taste, at least to me. Especially for a book that would certainly have mostly local appeal. I think the description was sufficient. Their dignity was stripped from them in the most callous way. Are these kinds of pictures generally included in true crime books?

I hate to sound so negative about this, The Sheriff is a very popular person in his area, a sought ofter speaker, and a force in the community for good. Go here to read a little more about him. Scroll to the very bottom of this page and click on Video Clips to see several very short clips.

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
Support your Local Library Challenge

true crime, murder, nonfiction

Kiss by Ted Dekker & Erin Healy

Synopsis: After a car accident puts Shauna McAllister in a coma and wipes out six months of her memory, she returns to her childhood home to recover, but her arrival is fraught with confusion. Her estranged father, a senator bidding on the White House, and her abusive stepmother blame Shauna for the tragedy, which has left her beloved brother severely brain damaged.
Leaning on Wayne Spade, a forgotten but hopeful lover who stays by her side, Shauna tries to sort out what happened that night by jarring her memory to life. Instead, she acquires a mysterious mental ability that will either lead her to truth or get her killed by the people trying to hide it. In this blind game of cat and mouse that states even the darkest memories in the face, Shauna is sure of only one thing: if she remembers, she dies.

My Thoughts: This was my kind of thriller. I enjoyed listening to it and sometimes sat in the driveway waiting for a stopping place. There were twists and turns, a little romance and a little paranormal thrown in. All in all this was another good read from Ted Dekker. In fact had it been a book instead of an audio I would call it a page turner. My only complaint would be that I just hate it when characters talk around subjects but never directly address it so don't learn what they need to. This device was used several times and was just a little frustrating. I'm thinking "Just ask him!"

But don't let this deter you, go read it, you'll like it!



Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
Audiobook Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge

thriller, christian fiction, Ted Dekker

The Little Painter of Sabana Grande By Patricia Maloney Markun

From the back: Fernando longs to paint during the dry season vacation from school. Only after making his own colors does he realize he has no paper on which to paint. His resourceful solution to the problem, with family and community support, is to paint on the adobe houses of his village. Cultural details abound in the presentation of home life, and the flora and fauna he paints. The story, based on a memory of the author while living in Panama, includes a glossary."

My thoughts: My class enjoyed this story and enjoyed creating their own drawings of nature. I liked the look into another culture. This book was an Américas Award Commended Book

Challenges
100+ Reading Challenge
Books Around the World Challenge
RYOB Challenge

Children’s literature, Panama

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

From the flap: Mma Ramotswe's ever-ready tiny white van has recently developed a rather disturbing noise. Of course, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni-her estimable husband and one of Botswana's most talented mechanic--is the man to turn to for help. But Precious suspects he might simply condemn the van and replace it with something more modern. Can she find a way to save her old friend/

In the meantime, Mma Makutsi discovers that her old rival Violet Sephotho, who could not have gotten more than fifty percent on her typing final at the Botswana Secretarial College, has set her sights on non other than Mma Makutsi's fiance, Phuti Radiphuti. Can Mma Ramotswe's intuition save the day? Finally, the proprietor of a local football team has enlisted the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency to help explain its dreadful losing streak. The owner of the team is convinced he has a traitor in his midst. But how is Mma Ramotswe, who has never seen a football match in her life, going to discern who is throwing the game? Help, it turns out, may come from an unexpected quarter.
There are few mysteries that can't be solved and fewer problems that can't be fixed when the irrepressible Precious Ramotswe puts her mind them. A good cup of red bush tea might be the best solution of all.

My thoughts: This is the tenth book in this series and is as good as the first. I read somewhere that people say nothing happens in these books. Well, it may seem so but believe me plenty happens. The pace of life is slow but life has a way of happening all around. I love reading Mma Ramotswe's thoughts on subjects as she goes about her daily business of working at her Detective Agency, spending time with friends, drinking refreshing red bush tea, taking care of her husband and her foster children. In this book we finally learn the younger apprentice's name: Fanwell. We see the friendship of Grace and Precious deepen even though they don't always agree on subjects, like chairs for example. Mma Makutsi thinks that "The trouble with this country is that there are too many people sitting down in other people's chairs," while Mma Ramotswe insists that "There are not enough of us prepared to share our chairs." I usually read the book then listen to the audiobook. This is the only series I do this with.

I'm going to miss the tiny white van. Perhaps she will get it back.

Visit the author's site here. Click on multimedia and you cna view an interview with McCall Smith.

Here is an interesting article on the series.

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge

mystery, humorous, detective, cozy

Belle Weather: Mostly Sunny With a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits by Celia Rivenbark

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of WE'RE JUST LIKE YOU, ONLY PRETTIER and BLESS YOUR HEART, TRAMP comes a hilarious new book.
Hang on to your hats! We're in for some fiercely funny weather and crackling-sharp observations from Celia Rivenbark, of whom USA Today has said, "Think Dave Barry with a female point of view." With her incomparable style and sassy southern wit, You'll hear from Celia on:

• The joys of remodeling Tara
• How Harry Potter bitch-slaps Nancy Drew
• Britney's To-Do list: pick okra, cover that thang up
• How rugby-playing lesbians torpedoed beach day
• Why French women suck at competitive eating
• The truth about nature deficit disorder
• The difference between cockroaches and water bugs
• The beauty of Bedazzlers
• And much, much more!

Whether she's doing her taxes or extolling the virtues of Madonna's mothering skills, Celia Rivenbark will keep you laughing until the very last page.

My thoughts: Well I think that synopsis about says it all. I laughed a lot while listening to this. I read another of her books and I don't remember so many "s" words. I found that a little off putting after awhile. There was a little political commentary, which I try to avoid. Otherwise it was a hoot! I have another of her books in a TBR pile for the Southern Reading Challenge 2009.

humor, southern humor, nonfiction, southern, commentary, essays

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
RYOB Reading Challenge
Audiobook Challenge

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

About the book: The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council--and there's only one, final punishment for that crime. He's on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.
Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head--someone like Harry.

My Thoughts:This was the 11th installment of the Dresden Files and I liked it a lot. Morgan, who until now has made Harry's life miserable, is accused of killing another wizard and comes to Harry for help. As much a Harry dislikes Morgan he knows Morgan couldn't have done this. He sets out to prove Morgan's innocence and runs into a variety of enemies including a skinwalker, The Binder, and the Black Council. The Skinwalker kidnaps Thomas, wanting to exchange him for Morgan.

I think this book is a turning point in the series. A relationship is ended, people (esp. Thomas) are changed, and, Morgan, a character who's been around since the beginning dies. This novel contains a lot of action, what a page turner! It is interesting that characters that have been around since the beginning reveal things about themselves we didn't know before.

There are two story lines in this novel. One is Harry's search for the truth behind the death of the wizard Morgan is accused of killing. The second involves the threat of the Black Council, proving that it is in fact real. But by the end of this novel questions are answered and the stage is set for for the next novel. Harry has found allies in his fight to find the Black Council. Can't wait to read it!

I enjoyed the humor through out this book. I also enjoyed seeing the return of the werewolves, the involvement of the White Court, and the important part played by Toot-Toot. I would love for Mouse to have a bigger part!

Challenges:

100+ Reading Challenge

Support Your Local Library Challenge

Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey

What it's about: A spoof of the movie "Godzilla", with dog and mice characters. When Dogzilla invades Mousopolis, the rodent inhabitants must decide on a plan to rid themselves of this terrible menace before their city is chewed to pieces. One of Dav Pilkey's best known, and best-loved books. This wacky tale features colorful collages, manipulated photographs, and paintings. Warning: Some material may be too goofy for grown-ups! Full color.

My Thoughts: This is a FUNNY book. I read it to my kids every year and they always ask for more. It is goofy, it's full of word play, puns and wonderfully silly pictures. The warning above is actually on the title page. Here is one of my favorite lines: "The Big Cheese tried to catch up to the hot dog with all the relish he could muster."

Visit the author's site here.

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge

children's literature, dog, funny

Borderline by Nevada Barr

From the Jacket: Drained and haunted by the killings on Isle Royale, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and on administrative leave by order of her superintendent, the one bright spot in Anna’s life is Paul, her husband of less than a year. Hoping the warmth and the adventure of a raft trip in Big Bend National Park will lift her spirits, Paul takes Anna to southwest Texas, where the sun is hot and the Rio Grande is running high. The sheer beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert and the power of the river work their magic—until the raft is lost in the rapids and a young college student makes a grisly discovery. Hair and arms tangled in the downed branches of a strainer between two boulders, more dead than alive, is a pregnant woman. Nature, it turns out, isn’t the only one who wants to see the woman and her baby dead. Instead of the soul-soothing experience Paul planned for her, Anna and her husband are sucked into a labyrinth of intrigue that leads from the Mexican desert to the steps of the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas.

My Thoughts: I started reading this series because they are set in National Parks all around the states and my husband and I try to visit as many as we can. I'm a long time fan of Nevada Barr and this series staring Anna Piegon. I found this book, # 15, to be a real page turner, well written and lots of action. It was especially appealing because it was set in the Big Bend National Park in my home state. I liked that Paul was with her and we got to see a softer side of Anna as she cared for the baby she rescued. The side story of the stranded cow was interesting, and if you watch the video on the authors site, you'll find that it was based on truth. I liked this book a lot and I think you will too.

Challenges:

100+ Reading Challenge

Support Your Local Library Challenge

See a video with Barr talking about this book.

In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez

From the back: An uproarious new novel in the tradition of Robert Asprin and Terry Pratchett!For someone who's immortal, Never Dead Ned manages to die with alarming frequency--he just has the annoying habit of rising from the grave. But this soldier might be better dead than face his latest assignment. Ogre Company is the legion's dumping ground--a motley, undisciplined group of monsters whose leaders tend to die under somewhat questionable circumstances. That's where Ned's rather unique talents come in. As Ogre Company's newly appointed commander, Ned finds himself in charge of such fine examples of military prowess as a moonstruck Amazon, a very big (and very polite) two-headed ogre, a seductively scaly siren, a blind oracle who can hear (and smell) the future, a suicidal goblin daredevil pilot, a walking tree with a chip on its shoulder, and a suspiciously goblinesque orc.Ned has only six months to whip the Ogre Company into shape or face an even more hideous assignment, but that's not the worst of his problems. Because now that Ned has found out why he keeps returning from dead, he has to do everything he can to stay alive. . . .

My thoughts: What a hoot! This book was quite well written, with witty dialogue, and parts that make you laugh out loud. It was a quick entertaining read that I found to be right up my reading alley. In this book , Never Dead Ned, an accountant, is put in charge of a military company of misfits lifted from all your favorite fantasies, ogres, goblins, an Amazon, a Siren, a walking tree that refuses to be called an "Ent" but prefers Treefolk, etc. Ned is a unique character to me in that he is so inept, such a poor leader, yet he wins the heart of his new command. I loved that Martinez named a pair of twin ogres Martin and Lewis. I guess I'm old enough to remember that particular pair of comedians. Pick this up, read it and see if you can spot all the fantasy and pop-culture references included. If you like Terry Pratchett's books (and I do) I think you'll like this.

Here is the author's MySpace.

Challenges:

100+ Reading Challenge

RYOB Challenge

Deader Still by Anton Strout

Synopsis: It's been 737 days since the Department of Extraordinary Affairs' last vampire incursion, but that streak appears to have ended when a boat full of dead lawyers is found in the Hudson River. Using the power of psychometry-the ability to divine the history of an object by touching it-agent Simon Canderous discovers that the booze cruise was crashed by something that sucked all the blood out of the litigators. Now, his workday may never end-until his life does.

My Thoughts: Once again I was attracted to a book by its cover. I like Urban Fantasy and it has the look, it reminded me of a Jim Butcher book. I read the line above the title: "It's hard to defeat evil on a budget." It made me laugh so I bought it. Had I bothered to read farther (like the bottom of the book) or the back I would have discovered that this is the second in a series. At home I read the back and found that it starts out with a boat load of dead lawyers. What can I say? I always laugh at lawyer jokes..... The hero, Simon Canderous is a fun character with toungue firmly in cheek. He's your ordinary guy, sometimes insecure and jealous, impulsive, and relationship challenged.
I thought this book was some what unique in the urban fantasy genre. For example, it makes fun of how many forms Simon has to fill out over any incident. This book ends in a cliff hanger, Simon and his partner, Connor, are walking out of the department to search for Connor's missing brother. I'm looking forward to the third book and in the meantime I plan to get the first one and read it.

Visit the author's site here.

Challenges:
100+ Reading challenge
RYOB Challenge

The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell

About the book: In this retelling of The Three Little Pigs set in the American Southwest, the cherished porkers are transformed into javelinas, the hairy, swinelike creatures also known as peccaries. Their pursuer, no longer the wolf of traditional lore, becomes Coyote, that ubiquitous Southwestern trickster. In her first book for children, Lowell spices the story with elements of Native American, Mexican and Old West culture. Javelina No. 1 builds his house of tumbleweed, while his brother relies on saguaro ribs. Twice Coyote huffs and puffs and the lightweight dwellings fall, but the peccaries are saved by their resourceful sister, who has had the foresight to build her home of stout adobe bricks. This clever and flavorful change of scene puts a diverting spin on an old favorite. Harris's lively, finely detailed illustrations, with the bristling, pink-nosed peccaries clad in cowboy outfits, amusingly contrast the villain's vigorous wiles with the title characters' cozy domesticity.

My thoughts: Loved it! The story was cute, the illustrations were great. Used this one in class and the kids did a venn to compare it to the traditional version. Funny note: One of my little girls said "It was the GIRL pig who was smart!"

View the author's site here.

Challenges:

100+ Reading challenge

RYOB Challenge

children's literature, children

Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett

Synopsis
When Bo spots what he thinks is a "rip-roarin', rootin'-tootin', shiny red armadillo," he knows what he has to do. Follow that armadillo! Bo leaves his mother and three brothers behind and takes off for a two-stepping, bronco-bucking adventure. Jan Brett turns her considerable talents toward the Texas countryside in this amusing story of an armadillo on his own.

My Thoughts: Jan Brett is one of my very favorite author/illustrators of children's books. Her pictures are always wonderful, vibrant, and inviting. Each year when we do our Texas unit, I read this story to my class. It is a fun read with lots of teaching opportunities, the least of which not being that the armadillo is the Texas state small mammal (the large state amimal being the Longhorn.) The class loved this story and wanted to hear it again.

Visit Jan Brett here. Lots of cool activities for the kids!

children's literature, children,

Fool by Christipher Moore

From the jacket: A man of infinite jest, Pocket has been Lear's cherished fool for years, from the time the king's grown daughters—selfish, scheming Goneril, sadistic (but erotic-fantasy-grade-hot) Regan, and sweet, loyal Cordelia—were mere girls. So naturally Pocket is at his brainless, elderly Liege's side when Lear—at the insidious urging of Edmund, the bastard (in every way imaginable) son of the Earl of Gloucester—demands that his kids swear their undying love and devotion before a collection of assembled guests. Of course Goneril and Regan are only too happy to brown nose Dad. But Cordelia believes that her father's request is kind of . . . well . . . stupid, and her blunt honesty ends up costing her her rightful share of the kingdom and earns her a banishment to boot.
Well, now the bangers and mash have really hit the fan. The whole damn country's about to go to hell in a handbasket because of a stubborn old fart's wounded pride. And the only person who can possibly make things right . . . is Pocket, a small and slight clown with a biting sense of humor. He's already managed to sidestep catastrophe (and the vengeful blades of many an offended nobleman) on numerous occasions, using his razor-sharp mind, rapier wit . . . and the equally well-honed daggers he keeps conveniently hidden behind his back. Now he's going to have to do some very fancy maneuvering—cast some spells, incite a few assassinations, start a war or two (the usual stuff)—to get Cordelia back into Daddy Lear's good graces, to derail the fiendish power plays of Cordelia's twisted sisters, to rescue his gigantic, gigantically dim, and always randy friend and apprentice fool, Drool, from repeated beatings . . . and to shag every lusciously shaggable wench who's amenable to shagging along the way.
Pocket may be a fool . . . but he's definitely not an idiot.

My thoughts: Moore said: "This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as nontraditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank...If that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!" Well, it is that and more. It is liberally sprinkled with the "f" word and illusions to the "f" word. I think a few of them could have been edited out. Part of me was thinking "I can't believe I'm reading this", and part of me was laughing out loud. I read it in two days and was thoroughly amused, as well as aghast, most of the time. This was a loose rewriting of King Lear from Pocket the Fool's point of view with snippets pulled from other Shakespeare plays thrown in. I had to laugh every time the ghost showed up. Each time someone said "There's always a bloody ghost." I have read several Moore books and have enjoyed them, so expected to like this one as well. I'd have to be careful with a recommendation though. I enjoyed it, it made me laugh. I LOVE a funny book and seek them out. However, if you are offended by the kind of thing described above, don't get it. I'll have to say that the sex, even though abundant, wasn't nearly as explicit as, say, a scene from a Sandra Brown novel.

Video: Moore talks about Fool.

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